FYI: Part one of this post is here.
Game time. Race starts and I cross the start line about 2 minutes after the gun goes off.
Furthermore Marc was texting me before the start of the race about the trouble him and Lisa were having getting to the spots we laid out for them to give me the beverage. Not a good way to kick things off. These things happen and they are no one's fault at all. But adjusting the game plan is parting of the learning process and it is something I can always improve on, especially given my planning instincts.
I got into a pretty good groove in the race but of course I'll admit that I was thinking about how I was going to manage the fluid consumption issue and the weather in the event that Marc and Lisa couldn't find me at all. My parents were slated to join in the cheering, but they didn't have the liquid I needed either. So I spent the 1st 4 miles thinking about something that was now out of my control. It was pretty flat for that period but I was happy that my mile splits were very consistent. I took water at the stops and just kept throwing it on my neck to stay cool. I was slowly hydrating. At one point, I think I threw too much water on me as I started to feel weighed down.
At the start of mile 5, it was a very small incline. My left hip started aching a little. Then I saw the Holyrood Cemetery and thought of how many monuments my Dad designed there (yes, my Dad sells tombstones – no joke). Hey, at least it got me not thinking about my hip and sure enough the pain went away. Had another uphill, heard another cover band and then hit some much welcome shade as I finished mile 6. At this stage, I remained pretty consistent with my pace (8:43-8:51) and even though it was slightly off from my plan with Lesley, I was pretty happy with it as I have never run a race at such a steady (meaning – hard, but not "all out") pace.
I hit Jericho Turnpike, I knew I had to still be on the lookout for Marc and Lisa. More like I was hoping to see them. I had enough liquid to get me to the 2nd planned meeting place if they weren't there, but still. I also knew that if they were there that it was very possible that Marc and Lisa wouldn't be at the 2nd planned stop at mile 10 ½ so I need to carry an extra bottle for the homestretch. And I knew I needed to be prepared to run with more liquid in my belt than I normally carry.
Low and behold at mile 6.75, I see the bright yellow hat (Marc) and the big red-headed ponytail (Lisa). I relax a bit and put up 2 fingers as they snap some pictures and I throw an empty bottle at them. They yell some encouraging words back at me. This was absolutely HUGE in terms of morale that they found a way to dodge the police stops to get inside of the loop because no matter what happened, I had enough of my specially-made sports drink to finish.
The stop was in a middle of slight but long uphill. I knew I had another mile of the hill and then it would be pretty much downhill/flat for the remainder of the race. I get to the Wantagh Parkway (how crazy is it that you're running on the parkway and that there are people hanging out on the barrier cheering you on?) and there was a little bump as I finished mile 9. I was still hitting 8:40 – 8:50 per mile paces, so the consistency was really helping me relax a little bit more. Yes, I am using the word 'consistency' or some form of it a fair amount in this entry because that summed up the 1st two-thirds of this race perfectly and that was a very good thing.
As I got off of the parkway and hit the mile 10 mark, I saw a sign for the elapsed time from when the gun off and was starting to do the math about what I needed for my goal time. As a side note, I had told a handful of people that I was going for under 1:55 in the month leading up to the race and when I did my 14-mile run almost a month earlier, I knew that it went from being a stretch goal to a realistic goal assuming no crazy weather conditions (yeah, ok – thanks to the weather gods for adding that extra degree of difficulty with the heat, humidity and pollen).
The problem with doing the math was that I was still trying to figure out how much time had elapsed before I realized something was up with my watch. Anyway before I know it, I'm approaching the intersection where I am supposed to see Puff Daddy, Sunny D, Marc and Lisa, and I hear my name called from an unfamiliar voice. It was Dena – Greg's wife! All cheering during a race is cool. When you get an unexpected personal cheer, it is absolutely awesome!
A couple of minutes later, I see the yellow hat, the red-headed pony tail, and the 'rents. I throw another empty water bottle at them and wave. This is probably mile 10.75 so now we are talking less than a "Greenlake lap". For those of you who don't know, Greenlake is a local park in Seattle that has a 2.8 inner loop around the lake. Time to get focused on finishing strong and pick up the pace to get under 8:40 per mile. I felt tired, but ok – not nearly as bad as I felt at the end of the Seattle ½ marathon with that last hill at the very end.
As I turned into the park, I noticed that I just ran past the Nassau County jail – so maybe that explained the extensive police presence. Who knows. Back to doing math based on what my watch said. I see that I have about 12-13 minutes to get in under my target time with about 1 ½ miles to go – hmmmm… And I still had to take into account what I figured was 20-30 seconds of the "lost time" at the beginning of the race. I just started picking people off and passing them. Finally saw the end and hit the stop button a couple of seconds after the obligatory picture at the finish line is snapped, which was around 10am.
Given that the race only shows the gun time as opposed to your individual race time and that I had the watch glitch earlier, I had to estimate my time which I really didn't like. Grrrr…. I figured it was somewhere between 1:54 and 1:55, but I was going for the 1:54 because it was a full 5 minute improvement from my previous PR in November. After a walk and some miscommunication, found the family and headed back to the house.
The ice bath was calling and I kept checking for the results to be posted. The only thing I could find was that even the winners of the race said that it was extraordinarily hot and humid for them and that the racing conditions were difficult. So even if I came in just over 1:55, I had a lot to be proud of. Started to marinate my rack of lamb for the family dinner later, watched the Yanks win and then family event kicked off at the house.
At around 4pm, the results get posted and I am stunned (not in a good way) to see my official 'net time' listed as 1:56:31 (no 'gun times' were posted). I figured I was about 2 minutes off of the 'gun time', but this was saying 'net time'. I was annoyed, disappointed and pissed at myself because of the watch snafu. I know that I will not make the watch mistake again, but still. I also knew my mile splits were right on target for a 1:54 finish, but maybe I didn't notice that my watch was not recording for 2 minutes, but that's a heck of a lot of time. I can't believe I would be *THAT* checked out in the beginning of a race while trying to settle into a pace.
I'll admit that I did think for a second that maybe the time tracking company made a mistake and I should contact them, but that seemed to be lame ass thinking and making excuses. It was still a 3 minute improvement from my previous PR in tough weather, but I knew I could have hit my goal.
I kept it together as the insanity of the 2 nephews took over the house and laughs were had. I made a honey-crusted rack of lamb as a thanks to Lisa and JB for hosting us (and Lisa for getting up at 6am on a Sunday) and we uncorked some Purple Teeth Cellars - '07 Alder Springs Syrah.
At around 9pm, Lisa wanted to see how one of her friends did and I noticed that they had posted NET and GUN times, which was different than earlier. Marc told me to check again on my result. Sure enough, I found my time at 1:54:35 and I was completely overjoyed! Seriously. I guess I only lost less than 10 seconds on my watch glitch because my watch had me at 1:54:40. Wow. I was psyched and yes, very proud.
Lots of people to thank in making this effort happen. So lucky to have so many people in my corner. It is truly humbling and very cool.
And I guess I should acknowledge that, yet again, Coach Lesley was right in telling me that the heat was psyching me out as opposed to believing in my training. Thanks, Coach!
Game time. Race starts and I cross the start line about 2 minutes after the gun goes off.
Side note: 'Gun time' is the difference between when the starter's gun goes off and when you cross the finish line. 'Net time' is the difference between when you cross the start line and when you cross the finish line. Depending on how big the race is, the differences between your 'gun time' and your 'net time' can be 10-15 minutes. Races tend to go by your 'net time' so it allows the elite runners to stay in the front unencumbered to run their race. If you start at the front because you are a very fast runner (aka elite), the gun time and the net time are going to be essentially the same.
Thought I hit my watch to start, but must have held the button too long so it stopped. I didn't notice this until 20 or 30 seconds into the race, or so I think. Grrrr. This is going to impact how much time I need to shave off in the end because I am not going to know and I like being precise about this stuff, especially when going for a new PR (personal record).Furthermore Marc was texting me before the start of the race about the trouble him and Lisa were having getting to the spots we laid out for them to give me the beverage. Not a good way to kick things off. These things happen and they are no one's fault at all. But adjusting the game plan is parting of the learning process and it is something I can always improve on, especially given my planning instincts.
I got into a pretty good groove in the race but of course I'll admit that I was thinking about how I was going to manage the fluid consumption issue and the weather in the event that Marc and Lisa couldn't find me at all. My parents were slated to join in the cheering, but they didn't have the liquid I needed either. So I spent the 1st 4 miles thinking about something that was now out of my control. It was pretty flat for that period but I was happy that my mile splits were very consistent. I took water at the stops and just kept throwing it on my neck to stay cool. I was slowly hydrating. At one point, I think I threw too much water on me as I started to feel weighed down.
At the start of mile 5, it was a very small incline. My left hip started aching a little. Then I saw the Holyrood Cemetery and thought of how many monuments my Dad designed there (yes, my Dad sells tombstones – no joke). Hey, at least it got me not thinking about my hip and sure enough the pain went away. Had another uphill, heard another cover band and then hit some much welcome shade as I finished mile 6. At this stage, I remained pretty consistent with my pace (8:43-8:51) and even though it was slightly off from my plan with Lesley, I was pretty happy with it as I have never run a race at such a steady (meaning – hard, but not "all out") pace.
I hit Jericho Turnpike, I knew I had to still be on the lookout for Marc and Lisa. More like I was hoping to see them. I had enough liquid to get me to the 2nd planned meeting place if they weren't there, but still. I also knew that if they were there that it was very possible that Marc and Lisa wouldn't be at the 2nd planned stop at mile 10 ½ so I need to carry an extra bottle for the homestretch. And I knew I needed to be prepared to run with more liquid in my belt than I normally carry.
Low and behold at mile 6.75, I see the bright yellow hat (Marc) and the big red-headed ponytail (Lisa). I relax a bit and put up 2 fingers as they snap some pictures and I throw an empty bottle at them. They yell some encouraging words back at me. This was absolutely HUGE in terms of morale that they found a way to dodge the police stops to get inside of the loop because no matter what happened, I had enough of my specially-made sports drink to finish.
The stop was in a middle of slight but long uphill. I knew I had another mile of the hill and then it would be pretty much downhill/flat for the remainder of the race. I get to the Wantagh Parkway (how crazy is it that you're running on the parkway and that there are people hanging out on the barrier cheering you on?) and there was a little bump as I finished mile 9. I was still hitting 8:40 – 8:50 per mile paces, so the consistency was really helping me relax a little bit more. Yes, I am using the word 'consistency' or some form of it a fair amount in this entry because that summed up the 1st two-thirds of this race perfectly and that was a very good thing.
As I got off of the parkway and hit the mile 10 mark, I saw a sign for the elapsed time from when the gun off and was starting to do the math about what I needed for my goal time. As a side note, I had told a handful of people that I was going for under 1:55 in the month leading up to the race and when I did my 14-mile run almost a month earlier, I knew that it went from being a stretch goal to a realistic goal assuming no crazy weather conditions (yeah, ok – thanks to the weather gods for adding that extra degree of difficulty with the heat, humidity and pollen).
The problem with doing the math was that I was still trying to figure out how much time had elapsed before I realized something was up with my watch. Anyway before I know it, I'm approaching the intersection where I am supposed to see Puff Daddy, Sunny D, Marc and Lisa, and I hear my name called from an unfamiliar voice. It was Dena – Greg's wife! All cheering during a race is cool. When you get an unexpected personal cheer, it is absolutely awesome!
A couple of minutes later, I see the yellow hat, the red-headed pony tail, and the 'rents. I throw another empty water bottle at them and wave. This is probably mile 10.75 so now we are talking less than a "Greenlake lap". For those of you who don't know, Greenlake is a local park in Seattle that has a 2.8 inner loop around the lake. Time to get focused on finishing strong and pick up the pace to get under 8:40 per mile. I felt tired, but ok – not nearly as bad as I felt at the end of the Seattle ½ marathon with that last hill at the very end.
As I turned into the park, I noticed that I just ran past the Nassau County jail – so maybe that explained the extensive police presence. Who knows. Back to doing math based on what my watch said. I see that I have about 12-13 minutes to get in under my target time with about 1 ½ miles to go – hmmmm… And I still had to take into account what I figured was 20-30 seconds of the "lost time" at the beginning of the race. I just started picking people off and passing them. Finally saw the end and hit the stop button a couple of seconds after the obligatory picture at the finish line is snapped, which was around 10am.
Given that the race only shows the gun time as opposed to your individual race time and that I had the watch glitch earlier, I had to estimate my time which I really didn't like. Grrrr…. I figured it was somewhere between 1:54 and 1:55, but I was going for the 1:54 because it was a full 5 minute improvement from my previous PR in November. After a walk and some miscommunication, found the family and headed back to the house.
The ice bath was calling and I kept checking for the results to be posted. The only thing I could find was that even the winners of the race said that it was extraordinarily hot and humid for them and that the racing conditions were difficult. So even if I came in just over 1:55, I had a lot to be proud of. Started to marinate my rack of lamb for the family dinner later, watched the Yanks win and then family event kicked off at the house.
At around 4pm, the results get posted and I am stunned (not in a good way) to see my official 'net time' listed as 1:56:31 (no 'gun times' were posted). I figured I was about 2 minutes off of the 'gun time', but this was saying 'net time'. I was annoyed, disappointed and pissed at myself because of the watch snafu. I know that I will not make the watch mistake again, but still. I also knew my mile splits were right on target for a 1:54 finish, but maybe I didn't notice that my watch was not recording for 2 minutes, but that's a heck of a lot of time. I can't believe I would be *THAT* checked out in the beginning of a race while trying to settle into a pace.
I'll admit that I did think for a second that maybe the time tracking company made a mistake and I should contact them, but that seemed to be lame ass thinking and making excuses. It was still a 3 minute improvement from my previous PR in tough weather, but I knew I could have hit my goal.
I kept it together as the insanity of the 2 nephews took over the house and laughs were had. I made a honey-crusted rack of lamb as a thanks to Lisa and JB for hosting us (and Lisa for getting up at 6am on a Sunday) and we uncorked some Purple Teeth Cellars - '07 Alder Springs Syrah.
At around 9pm, Lisa wanted to see how one of her friends did and I noticed that they had posted NET and GUN times, which was different than earlier. Marc told me to check again on my result. Sure enough, I found my time at 1:54:35 and I was completely overjoyed! Seriously. I guess I only lost less than 10 seconds on my watch glitch because my watch had me at 1:54:40. Wow. I was psyched and yes, very proud.
Lots of people to thank in making this effort happen. So lucky to have so many people in my corner. It is truly humbling and very cool.
And I guess I should acknowledge that, yet again, Coach Lesley was right in telling me that the heat was psyching me out as opposed to believing in my training. Thanks, Coach!